An ATM in the palm of your hand – soon with Verizon Wireless

Managing debt, keeping track of finances and performing ATM-style transactions are soon going to become more convenient thanks to a number of companies that are creating cellphone payment suites.

mFoundry is a mobile application developer providing advertising and content portals that allow large brand names to create mobile marketplaces. They have already worked with large brands such as Lexus, Nestle, Citibank and others.

At first glance this seems similar to TextPayMe, PayPal Mobile, and Geezeo, but each of these is unique in their own rights. The table below compares each service at a high level.

Feature

mFoundary

TextPayMe

PayPal Mobile

Geezeo

Check account balances

y

n

n

y

Transfer funds to registered members

y

y

y

y

Transfer funds to non members

y

n

n

n

Search transactions

y

n

n

n

Pay bills

y

n

n

n

API interface

y

n

n

n

The biggest advantage mFoundry has over the others, aside from a partner with an existing mobile customer base, is the Application Programming Interface or API. This enables financial institutions to interface their own applications. In this way companies like GoalFinancial, E*Trade Financial and others could quickly build a custom solution for their specific customers. This reason alone makes the mFoundry and Verizon combination a compelling offering.